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Oracle VirtualBox

Score8.6 out of 10

153 Reviews and Ratings

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What is Oracle VirtualBox?

Oracle VirtualBox is an open source, cross-platform, virtualization software, enables developers to deliver code faster by running multiple operating systems on a single device.

Categories & Use Cases

Key Features

Learn about the best (and worst!) features Oracle VirtualBox has to offer, as determined by TrustRadius' reviewers.
Based on 153 ratings of Oracle VirtualBox's features
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Top Performing Features

  • Hypervisor-level security

    Hypervisor-level security including antivirus and anti-malware

    Category average: 8.2

  • Management console

    Management console for central administration of vm environment

    Category average: 7.9

  • Live virtual machine backup

    Ability to backup vms without interrupting service

    Category average: 7.7

Areas for Improvement

  • Virtual machine automated provisioning

    Automation of virtual machine provisioning through use of vm templates

    Category average: 7.6

  • Live virtual machine migration

    Downtime minimization by migrating live vms between hosts and across clusters

    Category average: 7.8

Reviews

What users are saying about Oracle VirtualBox.
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Oracle VM VirtualBox Review

Corrado Danilo MinerviniView profile
System Architect in Information Technology at AEP Ticketing Solutions (51-200 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

It's a very useful and simple to use tool. We use instead of Vmware Workstation or Vmware Player, and it's very reliable, multiplatform, and cheaper than Vmware. The community behind it is great and thanks to Oracle, the support is very responsive.

Pros

  • Virtualization
  • Migration of VM
  • Network configuration amongst VM

Cons

  • I would like a better conversion tool from Vmware.

Return on Investment

  • The initial cost was 0.
  • The time needed to start using is zero.
  • The learning curve is very flat.

Alternatives Considered

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

Other Software Used

VMware Workstation Pro

Usability

Why I fell in love with Oracle VirtualBox

Incentivized
Verified User
Professional in Information Technology (10,001+ employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use Oracle VM VirtualBox to create virtual servers to use in a lab environment. We currently have several labs that require me to make changes for connectivity requirements. This way I can emulate the servers using virtual servers. Then I can make the changes and test how those changes affect the servers in the lab.

Pros

  • Fast and simple creation of servers.
  • Ability to install OS of my choosing.
  • Reduced cost of creating servers as I don't need to purchase hardware.
  • Excellent online support when issues arise.

Cons

  • Lacks advanced enterprise features
  • You can over allocate resources that can impact performance on the host.
  • It is not compatible with all operating systems.

Return on Investment

  • It is cost-effective, allowing the business to spend elsewhere.
  • Allocating resources ineffectively can impact both host and guest systems negatively.
  • It does not provide the same level of hypervisor-level security as other platforms do.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

VMware Workstation Pro, VMware Workstation Player and VMware vSphere

Other Software Used

Hyper-V, Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM), Proxmox VE

Intuitive, reliable and good for several software development use cases

Incentivized
Verified User
Employee in Information Technology (10,001+ employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Our main operation system is windows but as we develop software which runs on linux based servers, we use Oracle VM VirtualBox to develop and test software. This way we can rebuild a system which is comparable to our live servers. Besides developing and testing software, we also test new versions of libraries etc. within the VM first before we update our servers - this way we avoid having problems with dependencies between libraries.

Pros

  • Intuitive handling
  • Taking snapshots and cloning of VMs
  • Adaptable hardware settings

Cons

  • Draf&Drop is error prone
  • Gets slow as it takes more resources
  • Limited scalability

Return on Investment

  • Faster set up of development environments
  • Snapshots help returning to a stable state which saves lots of time
  • Test version updates before rollout saves time for troubleshooting and downtimes

Alternatives Considered

Docker and VMware Workstation Pro

Other Software Used

GitLab, JFrog Artifactory, Microsoft Visual Studio Code, Kubernetes, KeePass, Microsoft Teams

VirtualBox by Oracle is the HyperVisor that can for small and large needs

Incentivized
Tyler TwitchellView profile
Senior System Engineer in Information Technology at NetDocuments (201-500 employees employees)

Pros

  • Running multiple VM's on a simple laptop or desktop
  • Making a backup of a VM to quickly roll back to a known good state
  • Easy deployment of various operating system types and configurations

Cons

  • Reporting is a little lacking
  • Network settings for VM's can be hard to find or understand for the casual user

Return on Investment

  • Utilize existing systems to power multiple copies of an Operating System
  • More efficiently test applications or software without the wasted time to reinstall the OS
  • Keeping multiple back ups of an OS if needed or wanted

Alternatives Considered

VMware Workstation Pro

Other Software Used

VMware Workstation Pro, Nutanix AOS, Notepad++, Splunk Enterprise, Splunk Cloud, Remote Desktop Manager

Multiples Operating Systems

Incentivized
Alejandro Daniel CopatiView profile
CoFunder & Hardware Head in Engineering at Xavia IOT (1-10 employees employees)

Pros

  • Easy set up
  • Supports multiple operating systems
  • Free software
  • Nice interface
  • A lot of control over the configuration of the virtual machine

Cons

  • Coherence mode (like in Parallels)

Return on Investment

  • Ability to use non-native programs for my computer's host OS.
  • Saving time by changing the operating system (restarting the computer).
  • Ease of exchanging files between operating systems
  • Financial savings in acquiring new computers.

Alternatives Considered

Parallels Desktop

Other Software Used

MATLAB, Parallels Desktop, Altium Designer

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